These Wings Will Not Be Sheared
by HecateA
Summary: It will take Regulus many years to forgive his brother for turning his back on their family and the Divine Plan, and even longer to understand how Sirius could change so. Demon!AU. Oneshot.


**Author's note: **Enjoy!

**Dedication: **For Sophie, Hogwarts Secret Santa.

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Assignment #10, Demonology Task #6, Write a Demon!AU

**Warnings: **Near death experience; violence; kicked out of home; broken family; plotted violence; canon-compliant abusive environment

* * *

**These Wings Will Not Be Sheared **

_We know full well there's just time_

_So is it wrong to toss this line?_

_If your heart was full of love_

_Could you give it up?_

_'Cause what about, what about angels?_

_They will come, they will go, make us special_

-What About Angels, Christina Neis

Regulus pulled on a sweater and threw his blanket over his shoulders before padding over to Sirius' room across the hall. He knocked on the door and a grunt from within called him in. He cracked the door open and peeked inside.

"Hey," he said. "I was wondering if…"

"Yeah, I hear the screaming too," Sirius said, from his desk. The desk overlooked a window and outside, the snow was falling heavily. His brother had a book open on his knees and his hair, which was growing so much longer than their parents told them to keep it at now, was gathered in a bun. Sirius didn't seem to care or worry about it, but Regulus dreaded the day that their parents would notice the piercing Sirius had given himself. No matter how cool he thought it looked, he knew their parents would be furious.

Sirius turned back to look at Regulus and smiled sympathetically. He'd learned to tune out the activity that would happen elsewhere in the house a long time ago, but it still kept Regulus up and broke his focus on anything else. It was especially distracting as Regulus claimed fluency in Daemonic, and could keep up with the arguments and latch onto key words if everybody was enunciating properly. The more he knew about the family's affairs, the more he got caught up in these arguments that were going on downstairs about the Divine Plan and the ongoing war.

"Come in," Sirius said, beckoning him inside.

Regulus slipped inside and curled up on Sirius' bed—on the left side which was always his when they did this, and had been since their earliest sleepovers. That's what they'd called them when they were kids, and even if they were both of age to be in Hogwarts now Regulus couldn't quite shake the habit of calling it that. Soon, Sirius came to join him, dragging a red and yellow Gryffindor blanket from the floor onto the bed too. He hugged his book but stopped reading, looking at the ceiling instead. For whatever reason, Sirius then winced and got up, stretching out his arms again and rolling his shoulder as if to get rid of an ache.

"Do you know what it is this time?" Regulus asked.

"A row with Uncle Cygnus' side of the family," Sirius said. "I… I can't believe I'm saying this, but Andromeda ran away."

"She did what?" Regulus asked, sitting up.

"She just made a break for it," Sirius said. There was something wishful in his voice that Regulus managed to ignore. "I'm legitimately shocked that anybody managed to take the _problem child _title away from me and that it was Andromeda, out of all people."

"She didn't," Regulus said, shaking his head.

"She did—married a Mortal, someone she met at school, and got out. They're trying to decide whether to just let her run and cut off her demonic magic, send a hellhound after her, or kill her themselves," Sirius said. "At least they were last time I tuned in."

"My gosh," Regulus breathed. "I can't believe it… I never would have imagined…"

"She was the perfect Daemon," Sirius said. "Good at keeping secrets, sensing people's wants and fears, interfering with nightmares, creeping in the shadows, and such. She just did all kinds of other things too, in there, and none of them saw until it was too late."

Regulus stretched out and pondered this newest development.

"What do you think they should do?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sirius said. He turned around, away from Regulus and towards the snowy window. "Does it really matter?"

It mattered to Regulus, what Sirius thought, but he didn't push it. When Sirius didn't want to talk he didn't. Besides, Regulus was too shocked at the news to do more than process it.

"She can't just _leave. _Running away like that upsets our family's secret duty—maintaining the balance between Daemons, Mortals, and Angels is at the crux of…"

"You sound like the scripture we were force fed," Sirius said. He sounded grumpy about it—and not in a jealous way that came from the fact that Regulus had always been better at knowing the rules and remembering and following them.

Regulus shut his mouth. "I'm sorry. I just know it well."

"So did Andromeda," Sirius said. "And she still managed to just… leave it."

"Maybe," Regulus said. "Is she going to be okay? Are we ever going to see her again?"

"I suppose it depends on what the grown-ups do, yeah," Sirius said. "Still. She could be anywhere, doing anything, with anyone right now. That's… could you imagine that?"

Regulus wasn't sure that he followed. He pulled his blanket closer against him as a particularly loud spike in the argument downstairs preceded something smashing. If he had to guess, he'd hazard that it was a vase.

"I don't know why you would want to leave the family," Regulus said. "That must have been some Mortal she fell in love with."

"Maybe, maybe not," Sirius said. "He could have been the ugliest sod in the world and I think Andra still would have gone for it."

"Why?" Regulus asked.

"Doesn't matter," Sirius said. "Go read some scriptures and pray that she burns for all of eternity or something."

"That's not funny," Regulus said. "That kind of magic has to be taken very seriously."

"Don't I know it," Sirius said, sitting up in bed and stretching. He turned back to look at Regulus, as if checking to see if his features were still so worried, and sighed. "Look, Regulus… I'm sorry. I'm just not sure what to do about this other than make jokes, I'll stop."

"It's fine," Regulus mumbled, though he appreciated it. Sirius gave him a smile and patted his shoulder.

"Andromeda's going to be okay," he said. "She's resourceful. She's clever."

Regulus nodded.

"Did you want to spend the night here?" Sirius asked. "I can cast a Muffling charm on the door and we can try to get some sleep."

"Can I?" Regulus asked.

"Always," Sirius said. He cast the spell quietly, pointing his wand to the door and whispering the words under his breath.

"Why are you using a wizard's wand and magic instead of Daemonic magic?" Regulus asked him. It was much more powerful—that was what made Daemons the superior race. Sirius knew that.

"Hmm?" Sirius said. "Oh. Force of habit from being at Hogwarts."

He lied down quickly after that, turning away from Regulus so they both faced the window. With the rest of the world locked out of the room and silenced, watching the snowfall was definitely more peaceful.

But, more importantly, Regulus was facing Sirius' back. That was how he noticed the way that his t-shirt tented between his shoulder blades, in the spot that their parents had always taught them…

"Sirius?" Regulus asked, sitting up. "Sirius, was your back hurting earlier?"

His brother sat up too suddenly, and turned too quickly given the cool, calm, and collected look that he then shot Regulus.

"I was sliding down the banister to annoy Mother earlier and fell off," Sirius said. He gave Regulus his usual mischievous smile. "Absolutely worth it."

"You didn't fall on your back," Regulus said. He was conscious that in any other occasion that look and that smile would have been reassuring, as they had been a thousand times before when his big brother had stepped up to offer Regulus sanctuary and shelter. But today something felt… wrong. That uncanny feeling, that fear, trickled into his voice when he sat up and pressed on with his questions. "Sirius?"

Sirius sighed and looked back to the window and the door before he met Regulus' eyes again. "Do you promise to be quiet?"

"What?" Regulus asked.

"You have to be quiet and you have to be calm," Sirius said. "Okay?"

"O-okay," Regulus said, his heart pounding in his chest so hard it might break free.

Sirius nodded, seemingly to himself, and then swallowed hard before getting up. He reached down and pulled off his shirt in one swift motion, and then turned around to show Regulus his back.

Not only did the sight take Regulus' breath away but his chest tightened, as if he'd never breathed before and never would again. Perhaps this was what Mortals called drowning.

The bumps on Sirius' back mirrored one another. It was as if Regulus could see bones bulging through the skin—bones that shouldn't have been there, and that seemed dangerously close to the surface as if they were about to burst through. The skin around them was angry and red, it looked sensitive and painful although Regulus couldn't imagine… couldn't even _fathom… _

"You're growing wings," Regulus whispered. He hated the words as much as he hated himself for saying it, as much as he hated the way his stomach sunk since he knew that he was speaking the truth. "You're… Sirius, you're changing."

"No," Sirius said, spinning back towards Regulus. "No, I'm not changing. I'm still me, Regulus."

"You're growing wings and you're not using Daemonic magic and you're… you're becoming an Angel," Regulus said. "How? How are you _doing _that?"

"Not on purpose," Sirius said. "It's just happening to me."

"We can find a way to undo it," Regulus said, also getting up. "It's okay. I know now and I can help you. We can stop the change before the rest of the family finds out—surely there's something in the library we can find about that, we can…"

"Regulus," Sirius said quietly. "Regulus, stop."

"I know now, I can help you," Regulus said. "If we stop it before the wings fully come in—we can get rid of them, there has to be a way, even if we have to shear them or—"

"Regulus," Sirius said more forcibly, finally stilling his brother's anxiety. Regulus turned to look at him, the thoughts previously racing in his head all coming to a screeching halt.

Sirius shook his head.

"I… I want them," Sirius said. "The wings."

Regulus' stomach fell.

"What?" Regulus asked again, mouth pasty.

"I want them," Sirius said. "There's growing pains, don't get me wrong, but I… I feel right."

"As an Angel?" Regulus asked. "As… as the opposite of what our family is?"

"I'm sorry," Sirius said. "Not because of what I'm becoming but because I know it's… it's a lot."

Regulus shook his head. "Sirius… It's supposed to be rare, for Demons to turn to Angels and vice-versa."

"I read the same scriptures, Regulus. I know," he said quietly.

"Were you really that unhappy here?" Regulus asked quietly. "With… with me?"

"It's not about you, Regulus," Sirius said. "Just like Andromeda running away wasn't about that Mortal boy. It's about something bigger."

"Something bigger than our family?" Regulus asked angrily.

"I told you to keep it quiet," Sirius said.

"_You _should've kept it quiet," Regulus asked. "You told me—you _promised _me—that the fact that you went to Gryffindor and starting fraternizing with Potter and those other boys that it wouldn't change things!"

"I told you that it wouldn't change that I was your brother and that I'd always love you," Sirius said. "I never said it wouldn't change _me." _

"Angels don't love demons," Regulus said.

"It's more important that we're brothers, Reg," Sirius said. _Brothers. _Regulus couldn't stand the words and he turned towards the door. He'd rather face the shouting, the cracking, the splitting, the shattering—whatever it was that his family was doing down there, even if they were planning to hunt down his runaway cousin. At least he knew them to be his family.

"Reg—" Sirius said.

"Nothing should be bigger than this family," Regulus said, turning back towards Sirius and spitting out the words. "Even if you don't agree, even if you want to be different, even… _Nothing." _

Sirius looked at him, pain in his eyes.

"Maybe one day you'll see," Sirius said quietly.

"I hope I never do," Regulus said, seething.

"If you want to tell the others, I'll pack up tonight and go," Sirius said. "I know you… you probably think you have to."

"I do," Regulus spat.

"That's fine," Sirius said quietly. He sounded quieter than his rebellious, loud-mouthed usual self. Then again, who was Sirius? How could Regulus pretend to know now?

Sirius took a deep, shaky breath.

"I… I hope I'll see you again. At school maybe."

"And I hope those wings hurt on their way out," Regulus spat.

He slammed the door loudly enough to rival the other Blacks downstairs on his way out.

* * *

Sirius' words came back to him, once he sent Kreacher away. Those words and the coolness of the stone on which he rested his forehead were the only things keeping Regulus tethered to this world—this world of split souls, secrets, immeasurable pain, and Inferi clawing at his legs…

_Maybe one day you'll see, _Sirius had said the last time they'd really talked.

Regulus saw a lot of things more clearly, now. He wondered what exactly Sirius had been referring to. Had he hoped Regulus would see the infrastructure and the pawns and the true kings of this war? Had he hoped Regulus would look their leaders in the eye and see the nothingness that lived there, reconsider the pain and the destruction and the worth of it all? Or perhaps he'd hoped that Regulus would one day look in the mirror and imagine himself as something other than a Daemon—maybe someone as free from the world as Mortals were.

It didn't matter. Regulus had seen a lot of things recently, and through the madness that the poison he'd drank had given him, he now saw very little. The world was increasingly blurry. The vertigo made him sick to his stomach and his skin burned like the worst, most piercing fever in the world. He wondered if this was what Angels, Mortals, and all those other beings who weren't quite Daemonic thought of when they spoke of hellfire. He was nearly thankful that the Inferi were getting increasingly closer to pulling him into the lake. Perhaps he should have kept the Horcrux with him instead of sending it off with Kreacher: this kind of pain may have destroyed it. It was definitely getting close to destroying him.

And then, all of a sudden, it intensified. Regulus couldn't help but scream—for all his dreams of facing death with more candor and dignity than Lord Voldemort ever would, he screamed. The pain was so blindingly searing that it took him a moment to realize… this wasn't the poison or the Inferi or the lake. The only part of him that hurt, but by God did it ever, was his back. A spot between his shoulder blades that Regulus had always been taught to...

_I want them, _Sirius had admitted to him, shaking and afraid but sure. _The wings. _

And when the pain stopped, Regulus felt dizzy for a second—dizzy as his mind readjusted to accommodate the ability to control another pair of limbs.

But only for a second, and then he was back. Not back to himself to be sure, the change was nothing to scoff at.

But he was back in this world and lucid enough to beat his wings once to push back the Inferi crawling onto the island, twice to bring himself to his feet, and three times to fly out of the cave.

* * *

_Don't give me up_

_Don't give_

_Me up_

_'Cause what about, what about angels?_

_They will come, they will go, make us special_

_It's not, about not about angels, angels_

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts; Winter Bingo; Vile Vials

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC; Slytherin MC; Bow Before the Blacks; Seeds; Minerva's Migraine; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Family); Themes & Things B (Corruption); Themes & Things C (Blanket); Themes & Things D (Sweater); Booger Breath; True Colours; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Bonus Challenge(s): **Hot Stuff; Jack's Jollies; Mermaid; Second Verse (Wind Beneath); Chorus (Bad Beans)

**Word Count: **2641

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_**Winter Bingo **_

**Space (Prompt): **2B (Snow)


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